Chicken and Broccoli Strudel
This chicken strudel is the perfect make ahead dish. I made this the night before I planned on serving it. 30 minutes before dinner we pre-heated the oven and baked them. I served them with chicken gravy and a little whipping cream as a sauce that was individually applied.
Here is a picture of the filling mixture before I rolled it in the filo dough.
Working with filo dough can be really fun or a big pain if it is not fresh. Buy it frozen and thaw it right before you want to use it. I noticed this time that the brand I use has made the sheets smaller and less in the package just to warn you if you haven’t bought it in a long time. Before if I was making appetizers I could get 3 cuts out of each sheet, now I would get only 2 so kind of a big difference. If you have a local Greek market, buy it there. You want to buy it somewhere where they have a big turnover not sitting in someone’s freezer for 6 months.
The fresher the dough is the easier it is to work with. It dries out quickly so if you aren’t used to working with it, keep a slightly damp (not wet) towel on top. When it dries out it will break and not stay in the sheet and you might end up trying to piece it together which is not fun. Fresh filo dough is easy to work with and you shouldn’t have any problems, just try it if you have never worked with it before.
When you make these ahead of time, the butter will protect them in the refrigerator, do no under any circumstances cover the strudels. The dough will soften and get soggy, in other words it can become a real mess. In the picture of the strudels below this was taken right before I put them in the oven and about 12 hours after they were made and refrigerated overnight. Make sure also that when you put them on the cookie sheet that the seam is on the bottom.
Chicken and Broccoli wrapped in Filo, waiting to be baked.
- 2 3 lb. chickens
- 1 lb. broccoli
- 8 oz. swiss cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup butter - melted
- filo dough
- 5 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup whipping cream
- 4 cups chicken stock - from cooked chicken above
- Cover chickens in a large pan with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook 1 hour. Let set in water 30 minutes, remove chicken from water and cool until you can debone the chicken. Refrigerate the chicken while you finish the chicken stock. Add the bones back to the chicken stock and boil for another water until you have about 4 cups of chicken stock left. Strain chicken broth.
- Cut broccoli into bite size pieces. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt. Add the broccoli and cook for 1 minute once the water comes back to a boil. Put in a strainer and run cold water over the broccoli to stop the cooking. Add to the chicken after it is drained well.
- Strain the chicken stock into a clean pan. Bring to a boil. Mix the flour and water together until smooth. Stir it into the boiling chicken stock. Taste to adjust seasonings. Pour half of the gravy mix over the chicken. Add the whipping cream to the remaining gravy mixture. Bring to boil and let it reduce until it reaches a gravy consistency that will coat the back of a spoon. Refrigerate until ready to bake the strudels. Reheat at serving time.
- When the chicken and broccoli mixture is cool, add the swiss cheese. Stir to combine.
- Take the filo dough out of the package. Cover with a towel that is slightly damp if you are not used to working with filo dough. Take one sheet off and lay it in front of you the narrow end (short side) facing you. Brush lightly with butter. Lay another sheet on top, butter, repeat. You should have 3 layers of filo. Fold the end up about 1/3 that is closest to you. Take about a cup of the filling and place it on the fold. Fold in both sides over the filling. Brush the filo dough with butter. Starting at the end closest to you roll the pastry up until you reach the end. Place the rolled strudel on a greased baking sheet. Repeat process for remaining filling. Brush a layer of butter over the tops of the strudel.
- Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, the strudel should be golden brown like the ones above and the filling starting to ooze just a bit from the sides of some of them.
- Heat the gravy and whipping cream mixture and serve on the side.
- See the notes above about working with filo.
Maybe you’d like to try?
Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings with Dill Pickle Dip
Chicken Thighs with Rainbow Carrots
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“…chicken stock and boil for another water until you have…”
I’m NOT the spelling/grammar police, just wanted to let you know there’s a “typo” in Instruction 1. I’m just going to assume that it’s going to be an hour, or so,(?) before it gets to 4 cups.
Recipe looks good and I hope to make it for the Super Bowl this Sunday and see how many compliments “You’ll get on your recipe.”
Have a good weekend and Go Atlanta (cause I detest the Patriots! =8-0